Posted on 05/23/2005 5:23:07 PM PDT by kristinn
MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING ON JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS
We respect the diligent, conscientious efforts, to date, rendered to the Senate by Majority Leader Frist and Democratic Leader Reid. This memorandum confirms an understanding among the signatories, based upon mutual trust and confidence, related to pending and future judicial nominations in the 109th Congress.
This memorandum is in two parts. Part I relates to the currently pending judicial nominees; Part II relates to subsequent individual nominations to be made by the President and to be acted upon by the Senate’s Judiciary Committee.
We have agreed to the following:
Part I: Commitments on Pending Judicial Nominations
A. Votes for Certain Nominees. We will vote to invoke cloture on the following judicial nominees: Janice Rogers Brown (D.C. Circuit), William Pryor (11th Circuit), and Priscilla Owen (5th Circuit).
B. Status of Other Nominees. Signatories make no commitment to vote for or against cloture on the following judicial nominees: William Myers (9th Circuit) and Henry Saad (6th Circuit).
Part II: Commitments for Future Nominations
A. Future Nominations. Signatories will exercise their responsibilities under the Advice and Consent Clause of the United States Constitution in good faith. Nominees should only be filibustered under extraordinary circumstances, and each signatory must use his or her own discretion and judgment in determining whether such circumstances exist.
B. Rules Changes. In light of the spirit and continuing commitments made in this agreement, we commit to oppose the rules changes in the 109th Congress, which we understand to be any amendment to or interpretation of the Rules of the Senate that would force a vote on a judicial nomination by means other than unanimous consent or Rule XXII.
We believe that, under Article II, Section 2, of the United States Constitution, the word “Advice” speaks to consultation between the Senate and the President with regard to the use of the President’s power to make nominations. We encourage the Executive branch of government to consult with members of the Senate, both Democratic and Republican, prior to submitting a judicial nomination to the Senate for consideration.
Such a return to the early practices of our government may well serve to reduce the rancor that unfortunately accompanies the advice and consent process in the Senate.
We firmly believe this agreement is consistent with the traditions of the United States Senate that we as Senators seek to uphold.
The bottomline is that "extreme circumstances" is not defined and gives the RINOS some wiggle room...
The RINOS have no wiggle room because they pledged not to vote for the option for the rest of this session, regardless of the circumstances they find themselves in vis a vis judges. Suppose that a rino did consider a nominee mainstream but the donks consider the nominee extreme? The RINOS have left themselves powerless to deploy the nuke.
In short we, get three judges and the donks keep the right to filibuster but we do not have the right to nuke the filibuster. This was all around a bad deal for our side, I think.
"Next week..."
I will be calling Graham and McCain's offices tomorrow and will tell them that they should not even think of coming to Iowa.
The DU folks don't seem to realise that the three michigan judges are almost certainly part of the deal. They are not listed because they have been part of the deal offered by Reid so our side didn't need them listed. They were never being ideologically held -- they were simply on hold trying to force Bush to pull Saad. Since Saad is toast, the three:
Susan Neilson, Richard Griffin and David McKeague -- are back on.
That's 5 of 7, plus the 8th one Reid already said could get an immediate vote if they brought him up. That's why they aren't in the deal -- Reid previously asked for these 3 to be brought up first so the Dems could vote for them and look less like obstructionists.
You know what is actually the thing that is pushing me to believe we won (presuming there are votes to confirm the three)? The inclusion of Pryor. It is rare for a nominee who accepts a recess appointment to later get confirmed, because it is like being a scab in a union shop. Stick your finger in the eye of the Senate's advice and consent role, and the Senate as a whole usually clips you.
But now Pryor is getting a vote. And if he is confirmed, that will be a good thing, and somethign a little surprising.
Frankly, I thought the two sacrificial lambs were going to be Saad and Pryor. We might end up with 4 out of 5, maybe Myers will get through.
I am interested in seeing what the deal is on Myer. Reid (who was NOT part of the deal) said Myer will be filibustered. Graham (part of the deal) says Myer will get a vote. Either Graham was deceived by the moderate democrats, or Reid didn't get their message yet.
So what does this deal do to the Bolton nomination? Does he get an up or down vote? He better.
Just what the heck does "extraordinary circumstances" supposed to mean?
Give me a freakin' break...does anyone in their right mind sign a contract with that open ended unintelligible open to anyone's interpretation gibberish? Just how much are we paying these fools?
I want to filibuster this absurdity. And if Rush Limbaugh, God Bless him, comes on the EIB airwaves tomorrow in support of this insulting degrading poppycock, then I know for sure...well, republicans just don't understand the finer art of winning a street fight and strutting their winning banner.
I don't think anybody should assume that the so-called *moderates* who sold out both parties will actually vote yes to all three of these nominations. In fact, I can imagine some of the RINOs actually voting at least one of them down, after cloture and debate, in order to further appease their adversaries. And I'm certain some of the dims will also vote at least one down as well.
Nothing in this agreement says that they must vote them to the bench -- it only says that they will vote for cloture to stop the filibusters on them.
The knife is only beginning to be twisted in our backs.
While I'm VERY UPSET that this won't happen this week,
I think that this is only postponed.
Let's hope Republicans use the Constitutional option on June 27 when probably Rehnquist resigns and libDems filibuster Supreme Court nominees.
In the meantime we will have good nominees in the circuit courts, like Judge Brown. I see her as a judicial nominee for the Supreme Court.
Frist was disappointed and Reid was thrilled which is a bad sign for the moment, but we need to keep bugging the RINOs until June 27. We simply cannot give up. This is too important.
They don't give a damn about us at all.
Nice cogent analysis..many thanks..what this really does, IMHO, is kick the can further down the road undtil the SC vacany..one point you didn't mention.. if Bush puts up any of the just about to be confirmed judges to the SC, the Dems can filabuster..
I heard tonight on some station that the three Michigan nominees will get in....
Nothing in the deal says this. There is no guarantee that they will vote to confirm - the only guarantee is to end the filibuster.
Anyone who buys this I've got a bridge I can lrt you have....cheap
NOT ONE DIME!
Frist did not sign this declaration, nor did he approve of it. The Republican signatories are to blame, starting with McLame and Warner. They need to go away, along with the other Pubbies who signed on.
Dream on.
Except that some of the republicans have argued for these nominees precisely because they have promised to follow Supreme Court precidents.
That isn't a good sign when your own party is saying the nominee is OK only because the Supreme Court will control them. And that argument doesn't work for a Supreme Court nominee.
But this deal doesn't matter for that, because the seven republicans (or at least 6 of them) were not likely to vote for an actively anti-Roe Supreme Court candidate anyway.
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